Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Instant analysis: Golden Knights betting Nikita Gusev not a star in trade to Devils

Gusev Russia

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Russian athlete Nikita Gusev celebrates after scoring a goal during the third period of the men’s gold medal hockey game against Germany at the 2018 Winter Olympics, Sunday, Feb. 25, 2018, in Gangneung, South Korea.

The Nikita Gusev saga has come to an end. And the result figures to be disappointing for Golden Knights fans who were excited to see the play-making winger in Vegas.

The Golden Knights traded Gusev to the New Jersey Devils today in exchange for a 2020 third-round pick and a 2021 second-rounder, the team announced.

Vegas was in a cap-crunch this year, with little room for what Gusev was asking — a reported $4 million per year on a two-year deal.

There are ways to move money around, of course, and trading soon-to-be free agents like Cody Eakin, Nick Holden or Ryan Reaves were options, even if it would have taken draft-pick sweeteners for other teams to take on the deals. CapFriendly projects Vegas to have $1.025 million in cap space with 22 players on the roster.

There are two schools of thought on the Gusev trade.

The first is that the Golden Knights acquired the former seventh-rounder for expansion draft considerations in 2017, making their return-on-investment superb. If Gusev struggles in the NHL, this turn could be a boon for the Golden Knights.

The other possibility is far scarier for Vegas fans. Gusev dominated the world’s second-best hockey league like few have in years, and his jump to the NHL could be the arrival of the next great Russian-born star. He’s 27, and there’s a greater-than-zero chance he is a top-line player from the moment he puts on a Devils jersey.

The Golden Knights’ front office has not made a lot of mistakes in roster construction.

The Vadim Shipachyov fiasco and the Tomas Tatar trade stand as outliers, but the Golden Knights went to the Stanley Cup Final in their first year and felt like they could have done the same in Year 2. They’re the betting favorite to win the Pacific Division next year, with or without Gusev.

The Golden Knights are betting Gusev is not the future star many Vegas fans think he will be. If he isn’t, the two draft picks will look mighty good on a shelf that will include five top-100 picks next year and four top-62 picks in 2021.

But if he is, this is a deal Vegas will come to regret. Whether that happens remains to be seen, but the Devils visit T-Mobile Arena on March 3. That’s the earliest chance Golden Knights fans will have to see Gusev play hockey in Vegas.

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